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Monday, January 15, 2007 - (see all news for this day)
laptop lunches - 02:20 PM
(filed under 'healthy living')
something i mentioned in my recent post about finding the right child care place for smiley was that one place provided lunches & another didn't. this probably isn't a big deal to most people, but it actually did have some sway with me. it wasn't because of the cost of providing food for smiley's lunch. it's because i hate packed lunches & actually doing the packing of lunches about as much as i hate ironing.
i've hated eating & packing packed lunches ever since i was old enough to have to make them myself. i like sandwiches, but not packed ones. no matter what you've put on a sandwich, by the time you're ready to eat it, it's either warm or soggy or both. best case scenario, even if your sandwich is still fresh & at a normal temperature, is that you don't feel like eating that particular thing anymore once lunch time comes around.
my favourite foods are ones that go on a plate or in a bowl, generally not things which are easily packed for lunches. that's the other pain in the bum thing about packed lunches: choosing something which will travel well, then finding a way to pack it so that it will travel well!
there are heaps of options with portions of things such as yoghurts or small packets of biscuits or fruit sticks & the like, but i'm not keen on feeding smiley such processed products as a regular thing. also, i'm not happy about the sheer amount of waste that's produced from each meal with all the packets & wrappers which then have to be thrown away.
i believe i've found a solution. it's laptop lunches. these lunch boxes are designed with different sized inner containers that fit perfectly inside the larger one. the idea is that the individual containers can be taken out to eat from, or to heat the contents, if need be. the lid of the outer container fits flat against the top of the inner containers so that dry foods are held inside without the need for extra lids. one of the inner containers is lidded for wet foods, but the rest come wthout lids.
seems like a simple concept & i suppose it is, but having read really good things from individuals who use them, i'm convinced. they aren't cheap at all, but i've seen the prices of good quality plastic containers in the supermarket & to buy six individual containers would cost close to that, not to mention how much trouble i'd have trying to get them to fit together into one neat little package. i know i'm not keen on plastics, but there are times & places where it's useful & packed lunches is one of those.
there are several reasons why using this system makes packed lunches easier to prepare & more likely to be eaten. firstly, they look great. secondly, no lids, except for the one for wet food. kids open their lunchbox & instantly see a brightly coloured selection of yummy things to eat. apparently, the no lids things makes a real difference.
for me as the packer of the packed lunch, other reasons are that i can very easily pack left over dinner into the containers to be ready for the following day. i don't have to dig around for containers which might be too big or too small. another reason is that when the lunch is being put together, i'll be able to see plainly see what healthy things are in there already & how much more room (or not) i have left to fill for a good sized lunch.
all of these things are only little issues on their own, but if not sorted out with a great solution such as this, they add up to me hating packing lunches & being terribly uninspired to put anything decent & fresh into a lunch for smiley.
the people who have used these successfully for years have found that it makes such a difference not only to them being happier to prepare lunches, but to what they put in there & how much of the lunch is eaten by the kid. i've even found a flickr group or two dedicated specifically to lunches packed into laptop lunch boxes as well as one that covers kid's lunches in laptop lunch boxes as well as other lunch box styles.
i'm really excited about making nice lunches for smiley. i want to foster good eating habits for him .. & me being happy & inspired about packing his lunches will help a great deal.
Grrr I hate not being able to find those damn lids, this sounds like a great choice!!!
This is inspired! I have never seen these before but I'm loving them. Might see if I can get a bigger one for the hubby's lunch too, he loves a bit of variety.
I find this site really handy for lunch ideas. http://www.veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/ Might help you to? We use it quite a lot. My boys love checking to see what has been posted for each lunch. Hope it help both you and Smiley.....
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Packing lunches can be a pain, but I'd always much rather eat my own food than pay $6-$10 for substandard grub from a cafe. It just tastes so much better, plus you save a lot of money too.